Bill Smith's Photography

 I'm going on a big Fomapan 400 kick when my last rolls of Ultrafine Extreme 400 in 35mm, I also have a few rolls in 120. I went out for a short afternoon walk with my Rolleicord IV which I've owned going on 10 years, a great camera for those looking to get into medium format and twin reflex photography and the world of Rollei without leasing out vital organs. I popped a roll of Fomapan 400 into the camera and went out on a grey Tuesday.  My uusal shooting style with Fomapan 400 is shoot at 250 ISO and process for 400 ISO and used the seven minute time for HC110 dillution B. One can get box speed or close to box speed with Tmax developer, but I don't have any of that, and that's ok. I love what I got. Another good developer using the same proecss I did, shooting at 250 ISO and processing for the 400 ISO time is D76 or ID-11, I use the longer quote time to be on the safe side.  Camera: Rolleicord IV, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar lens.  Film: Fomapan 400, HC110 B.  ...

My connection came through with a brick of 120 forma Agfa Optima 100 at a recent Oakville Camera Club meeting. I took a roll with me last Saturday to shoot with once my Bergger Pancro 400 roll was done. Even though it was freezer stored I had no idea what I was going to get with Almost two decade old Agfa colour film.  What you see was shot through a Rolleicord at box speed, no colour corrections needed. I'm really sad Agfa went bust, and would be overjoyed if either Adox or Rollei would bring this film back from the dead, one can dream. In the meantime, I have nine rolls left, and you don't. Camera: Rolleicord IV, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar lens.  Film: Agfa Optima 100. 

I shot a 35mm roll of Bergger Pancro 400 two years ago up in Elora when it was first introduced. For those not familiar with this film Pancro 400 is available in multiple formats and is a two-layer silver bromide and silver iodide emulsion. I loved the tonality of the film but it was grainy, but a good grain. Now I grabbed a bunch of rolls in 120 recently and I wanted to see what I can do in medium format with this film. The short answer is Bergger Pancro 400 in 120 is gorgeous! The tonality carries over into 120 format but with much finer grain, again I used the B dilution for Kodak's HC110 developer to process the film. I was very pleased with the results having no issues of cupping. As a result, I ordered 10 rolls on top of the 12 I already have as I want to be well stocked this Summer and fall. At some point, I want to print with Bergger's RC papers, for now, I'll just shoot the film. Camera: Rolleicord IV, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar lens. Film: Bergger Pancro 400, ...

I had a scare with my Rolleicord IV, back in early March I took it in with me to Toronto for the afternoon before an event I was going to. It was a classic early March day in Toronto, which could be summed up as shitty, as in soggy wet cement coloured skies, and a windchill somewhere around -10c when you'are expecting milder temperatures. My Rolleicord acted up, skipping a frame and almost overlapping another.  After my March Break in the Beaches, I resolved to test the camera out when the temperatures warmed up. I popped in a roll of Arista EDU Ultra 200 which is made by Foma. It's a relatively cheap and cheerful film and a cousin to the Fomapan Creative 200, an emulsion that polarizes Foma fans.  There are no frame spacing issues above freezing with my Rolleicord IV and that's a great relief. Bear in mind the camera in question was made in 1954. I just have to use it more often.  Camera: Rolleicord IV, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar lens.  Film: Arista E...

There's a street car theme happening here..... Camera: Rollencord IV, Schneider 75 f3.5 lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600, HC110 B.

I don't wander around west of Spadina often enough. I was in Toronto for an evening seminar and had some time to kill. Now being March, it's just like November only you get cruelly teased with a few nice days only to have a two week stretch of awful weather. I pushed my film to 1600 to get more out the light I had. Camera: Rolleicord IV K3B, Schneider 75 f3.5 Xenar lens. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600 ISO, HC110 B.

So glad April has arrived and spring has a strong foothold. It was a rough March on several fronts and I'm not going to miss one, well the skiing was nice but I'm done with the following phrases and words: wind chill, polar vortex and special weather statement, my personal favourite. Well get out there and enjoy the sunshine, we deserve it.

Winter has finally been kicked to the curb, see you again on December 21, 2014. Camera: Rolleicord IV K3B, 75 f3.5 Schneider Xenar Lens. Film: Kodak Tmax 400 processed in Xtol 1+1.